


Ace

by susandragon01



Category: Storm Hawks
Genre: F/M, OC, the condor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-05-17
Packaged: 2017-11-23 23:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/627901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/susandragon01/pseuds/susandragon01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Dark Ace has been instructed to kidnapp the new Storm Hawk Kate and hold her prisioner in Cyclonia. She's locked away in his private cell in his bedroom, but having her constantly near is starting to make the Dark Ace feel an attraction towards her, although he is unsure whether it is love or lust. Can they find a way to work together when disaster befalls them or will the fact that they are on opposing sides push them apart? Dark Ace/Oc</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kate was wondering where everyone had gotten to. On board the Condor it was quiet, silent even.

The ship had landed at Terra Tropica, the guys wanting a much needed break from constantly fighting Talons, saving the Atmos, and most recently, escaping from the Murk Raiders.

The hot tropical weather was welcome to most, but Kate didn't care for it, she preferred the slightly colder climates, similar to those on Atmosia and Terra Gale.

They probably decided to hit the beach without me she thought glumly, sat alone in her room. They had said they just needed to gather some more crystals for the engine, though why Stork had accompanied them instead of staying with the Condor as usual was a mystery to her.

Suddenly the alarms whooped twice, making her rush to the Bridge to see what was happening. As she rounded the corner and entered the main body of the ship, she could have sworn she had left the lights on, and was just fumbling for that darn switch that was just out of her reach when-

'SURPRISE!' And everything was lit up to show a grinning Aerrow, Piper, Finn, Junko, Stork and Radarr all wearing party hats, with silly string falling everywhere.

'Happy Birthday!' They all shouted in unison.

'B-but but I thought you were out looking for crystals?' Kate asked in disbelief, stumbling a little at the beginning of the sentence because she was sure they'd forgotten it was her birthday.

Looking around the room she could see a banner hanging from the ceiling, which was definitely in Finn's writing. A table had been set up to the right, with all manner of party-food, and in the middle a huge chocolate cake with Happy 1st Birthday On The Condor written in blue icing on the top.

'As if' Began Finn, 'that was just an excuse to get the stuff ready for an awesome party.'

'Yeah and it was Aerrow's idea' Added the Wallop.

She looked to Aerrow who had a sheepish smile on his face.

'But the alarms to get you here were all Piper' He said.

Kate looked at them all. 'Thank you' She said. 'I can't believe you would go to all this trouble for me-' Kate began, starting to tear up, almost overwhelmed with emotion.

'Well you deserve it' Piper chimed in. 'You've been with us for almost a year now and even though you may not have been fighting side-by-side with us yet, you've stayed on the ship with Stork and saved us all countless times either by steering the Condor or shooting the cannons. Anyway you're our best friend, you're family' She finished, everybody nodding enthusiastically behind her, and came in for a big hug.

Kate then proceeded to hug everyone in turn. Frist Radarr who chirruped happily, then Stork who awkwardly patted her on the back, Junko, who enveloped her in the biggest bear hug that she had to remind him of her need to breathe. Next came Finn who quickly grabbed Kate by the waist, picked her up and spun her round, making her giggle whilst he harmlessly flirted as per usual. By the time he set her down there was just Aerrow left.

Everyone else had suddenly found something else to occupy themselves with, be it eating the party food, inspecting the engine crystals or just chatting quietly. Kate was glad of their attempt at privacy for the two of them, even if it was executed slightly awkwardly.

Aerrow and Kate had been becoming steadily closer to each other, especially over the past couple of weeks. Everyone had noticed this yet not commented, just feeling glad for the two of them. Even Radarr who had always become increasingly jealous whenever Aerrow had become close to any girl, didn't try to upset the two of them, content that Kate could quite possibly be the 'one' for him'

As Aerrow opened his arms she had to restrain herself from flying straight into his warm embrace. As Kate leaned her head in his firm chest, she sighed, feeling his muscles flexing as his toned arms snaked around her back. She only came up to just past his chin, around 5ft6, whereas he was a good 6ft. Aerrow buried his face in her strawberry scented hair, his sharp red spikes clashing with her sleek brunette locks.

'Happy B-Day' He whispered, and slightly tightened his grip on her for all of a second. He smiled to himself, content to just stay here with her forever, not wanting to try to decipher all the mixed up feelings about her, just knowing he was always happiest whenever Kate was around. He had so many confused feelings he didn't know which way was up.

Aerrow leaned his head back slightly to look down at Kate, then rested his forehead against hers.

Looking into his leaf-green eyes she was glad that the Sky Knight was there for her, she knew that if anything were to ever happen to her, he wouldn't stop till he got her back, and the thought made her smile.

Aerrow's eyes strayed down to her lips. Such a beautiful smile he mused, then wondered where the hell that thought had crept up from. Still, it didn't stop him from slowly tilting his lips towards hers, Kate's mouth parting slightly at his sudden movement.

But before his lips could reach their destination the alarms blasted all thought from their minds and instead his gentle grasp became a protective hold, his chin now resting on the top of her head.

'What is it?' The Sky Knight asked. All Business now.

'Oh Gods' Piper muttered to herself looking out of the glass windows.

'Cyclonians!' Stork announced. 'Talons, coming in fast' Also muttering a casual 'We're doomed.' Left eye twitching slightly.

'Stork take us up, we've got to meet them head on. Everybody to your rides, Kate stay here.' Aerrow said, still reluctant to actually let her go yet.

'No, this time I'm going with you' Kate stated defiantly, pushing herself out of Aerrow's embrace.

'It's too dangerous.' Replied Aerrow.

'I'm not asking for your permission' Her face drawing into a frown. 'I've been training for months with you for this exact situation, a clear sky, plenty of room to manoeuvre. You've seen how good I am when flying and fighting you, and you're the best fighter I know.'

'She's got a point' Cut in Finn, ignoring the sharp glare from Aerrow. 'Besides, we'll all be there to look out for her.'

Aerrow was silent for a moment, knowing that unfortunately his team was right. Everybody was watching him – the only sounds were the alarm sirens and Stork's worried, 'They're almost here.'

Aerrow finally turned back to look at Kate's defiant expression and knew she had a fair argument. Plus they were all around the same age now (14).

'Fine' He eventually answered. 'But at the second you feel you can't do this, or, Gods forbid, The Dark Ace appears, you come straight back to the Condor. Got it?' He all but demanded.

'I promise.' Kate lied smoothly, she could handle this, and anyway, The Dark Ace wasn't there. There was no sign of him through the Condor's windows, just a bunch of Talons.

She was finally happy to actually be able to get some action going. Great as Stork was, he could be quite depressing at times. All that would happen on the Condor whilst everyone was fighting was a muttered, 'We're all going to die.' From Stork, steering the ship, which was hardly what anyone wanted to hear.

You see, Aerrow and Kate were the closest of friends, but when they had a 'difference of opinion', neither side would back down, their personalities clashing.

'Then let's go kick some Cyclonian ass!' Junko whooped, bringing a smile to everyone's face as they dashed to their Skimmers.

'Basically just knock them off of their rides. It's actually really fun.' Finn half-whispered. Aerrow's face still contorted with worry.

The hatch opened and they revved their engines, shooting out, speeding up, and then snapping their Skimmer's wings open.

At first it was easy. The lead Talon followed Junko, only to be shot down by Finn. The second and third heading for Aerrow, whilst the others aimed for the girls. They were soon separated, all fighting their own battles.

The Dark Ace observed this from his high vantage point in the clouds. He was hidden - they couldn't see him, yet he could see them.

Master Cyclonis' orders were very clear: capture the brunette alive and take her to Cyclonia. He was informed that she should be located inside the ship, which would have been easy to infiltrate, but he could clearly see her flying around, dispatching his Talons.

No matter, he thought with a smirk, angling his ride downwards. Time to collect my prize.

The next Talon to come hurtling at Kate was much bigger than the last. He had a dirty brown moustache with a long scar down the right side of his face.

'We got a pretty young'un here, eh?' he said, laughing. Kate wondered who he was talking to, and turned her head to see another Talon speeding towards her from behind.

'You bet. We could have some fun with her in Cyclonia.' He said nastily.

Well they're in for a nasty surprise, Kate thought slyly. She kept flying towards the Talon in front of her, the other one still gaining on her from behind. At the last second she heaved her arms up, taking her skimmer into the heavens. Her reaction was too fast for the two Talons, who immediately crashed head on into each other.

As she turned forwards in her seat she looked up to meet an awesome sight.

The Dark Ace was hurtling straight down towards her, sat up in his seat. A huge grin plastered on his face, his red weapon ablaze, held high in the air.

'Oh shit' she muttered before quickly swerving off to the left.

She looked back to see him right on her tail, and put on a burst of speed.

'Uhh, Finn?' questioned Junko, 'Where's Kate?' he asked just after they had shot down their latest Talon.

Aerrow heard them and stopped to look around too. What he saw soon made him catch his breath.

She was flying fast, her hair whipping around wildly. The Dark Ace practically on top of her, firing blasts from his monstrous weapon.

Piper flew past, shooting at him, but The Dark Ace didn't even notice, his teeth gritted in determination as he imitated each of her aerial manoeuvres, steadily getting closer.

Quickly he spotted his chance and took it, leaping onto her skimmer whilst she was busy avoiding the other Talons whizzing by her.

Kate immediately noticed the difference in weight on her skimmer, and turned her head to look back, only to meet a pair of bright crimson eyes and a maniacal grin. Hitting the auto-pilot button on her ride, she hastily jumped up, her sapphire blade clashing with his fiery red one, only just missing her shoulder by a hairs breadth.

'Since when did you become a Storm Hawk little girl?' Dark Ace leered. Ducking as her dark blue energy blade passed overhead.

'Since when did you like getting your ass handed to you?' She replied, dodging his kick to her left knee and clipping him on his jaw with her hand.

His head snapped to the side and he spat out blood. 'You'll pay for that.' He declared venomously.

But before he could attack again Aerrow had swooped in and landed on Kate's skimmer too, knocking in to the dark haired man, causing them both to go tumbling off the edge and landing rather ungracefully onto the Cylonian Commander's ride below.

'Aerrow, so nice of you to drop by.' Dark Ace sneered, jumping back to his feet, with Aerrow following suit.

'What do you want this time Dark Ace?' Aerrow demanded, snapping out his twin energy blades and relaxing into a basic fighting stance.

'Certainly not you Sky Boy.' He announced half-heartedly, too busy blocking the teenager's flurry of well-aimed blows.

'As a matter of fact' he started, 'I'm here for that new kid you call a Storm Hawk' he said, glancing below them.

'Kate' the red head whispered, his eyes widening slightly with his sudden realisation.

'Oh, so the child has a name.' Dark Ace replied patronizingly. 'Well I'm sorry to burst your little bubble Aerrow, but quite frankly this is taking too long.' And with that his fist darted out, breaking Aerrow's nose and distracting him. In a flash he has sliced the back left half of his switchblade's engine, making it spiral madly out of control. 'Bye-bye Aerrow' he called as he promptly dived backwards off of the falling machine and straight on to the other talons' beneath.

As soon as The Dark Ace landed, he swiftly knocked the Talon into the wastelands, angry at himself for not dodging Aerrow's attack earlier. He soon managed to spot Kate again, and set off after her.

Meanwhile Kate had been convinced by Finn and Piper to head back to the Condor. She had realised why The Dark Ace was so feared in all of Atmos – he was an excellent fighter and completely unpredictable as well as a few other things. She didn't want to even think about why he had immediately come after her instead of Aerrow as usual. It wasn't that she wanted to leave all the danger to her friends – far from it; she was just unnerved about it all.

Piper, Finn and Junko had just landed back on the Condor and Kate was just about to follow suit when a red energy blast sailed not even an inch over her head. She swerved down and to the left, away from the Condor and her shouting friends, in the direction of Terra Tropica.

Looking back she saw that The Dark Ace was yet again following her and wondered for a moment where the hell Aerrow was. But the thought quickly flew from her mind as she was too busy dodging the second blast fired at her.

This time, no mercy The Dark Ace thought and shot an energy blast so big at the skimmer in front of him that it immediately took out both the wings on the machine's right side, and left a nasty gash down the side of Kate's arm.

Kate shrieked as she lost control of her ride, clutching on to her bleeding arm. The ground below was spinning closer and closer and before she even had a chance to think about pulling her parachute she had crashed straight into the hard lumpy ground of the terra below.

Kate's first thought was of why she didn't hurt more. As she crawled out from the wreck she realized that the impact had made the skimmer curve in to a loose ball surrounding her seat effectively protecting her from the worst of it.

She felt something warm dripping down from her hairline and reached up with her uninjured arm to see what it was. When she pulled her hand back, it came back red.

Blood, she thought dizzily. I'm bleeding. But for some reason it didn't shock her as much as it should have. Her head felt fuzzy.

The last thing she remembered was looking up to see a red skimmer flying towards her, a large masculine hand reaching out towards her and a faint hoarse voice screaming 'Nooo!' before falling into the soft darkness of unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing.

When Kate finally came to, everything was a fuzzy blue and white. Blinking to clear her vision, she realised that she was actually looking at the cloudy sky.

The next thing she noticed was that she had a pounding headache, and that scraping noise was not helping.

Scraping? She wondered dizzily. She tried to sit up to find the source of the noise but flopped back down, failing miserably. Instead she craned her neck to the right to see.

At first it didn't register what she was looking at, with her first glance it looked like some kind of moving boulder.

Don't be ridiculous she thought to herself. Squinting she could now pick out some colours – red and black mainly. A couple of seconds later she recognised that it was clearly a man sitting on an old upturned tree root.

Maybe he knows what's going on, she presumed.

In his hands was a square tin bowl filled with some kind of food, the scraping noise happening every time his spoon attacked the metal.

He was facing away from Kate but his body was angled sideways, close to a small fire as if to gather its warmth. The wind was steadily beginning to pick up speed, causing his black hair to ruffle in the breeze.

Now fully awake Kate was trying to figure out how she got here. The last thing she remembered was fighting The Dark Ace and crashing her skimmer.

Wait a minute – The Dark Ace! He must have…. Kate tried to get up, stretching her arms and legs …. Tied me up, she concluded glumly, relaxing again.

She had come to the conclusion that 1) there was no way she could untie herself, 2) she really needed some painkillers and probably a medic and 3) that the guy in the clearing had to be The Dark Ace.

Too wrapped up in her own thoughts, she had failed to notice that the man in question was staring right at her.

Kate was worrying about her friends on the Condor. She hoped that they were all right. She was especially apprehensive about all the things that could have possibly happened to Aerrow. Her mind was whirring madly with all the possible outcomes that his fight with the Cyclonian Commander could have created. The last time she remembered seeing him was when he fleetingly knocked Dark Ace off of her skimmer, but at the time she was so full of adrenalin that she didn't even remember that fully.

She looked back to the right but found that the dark-haired man was not there anymore.

Suddenly a shadow fell over her and she looked up. But instead of seeing the cloudy sky she was met with The Dark Ace. His black hair looked as if it were glowing, surrounded in a halo of white light from the quickly setting sun.

'I see you're awake.' He said, kneeling down so their faces were just around a foot apart.

She turned her head away in disgust but he quickly grabbed her chin and turned it back, his red eyes looking straight into her blue ones.

'Go to hell' she muttered, trying to avoid eye contact with him and instead attempted to bite his withdrawing fingers but missed.

'Now, now' he tutted, 'That's no way to treat anybody, especially if that person was the only other human on this entire Terra.' He finished, smirking.

'Oh good!' she came back easily, 'so there's a chance that you're going to get mauled to death and eaten by a wild animal then?' she asked sweetly. She was being sarcastic and hopeful at the same time.

Before he could reply thunder crashed overhead and rain began to pour heavily.

He swiftly got up and walked back towards his tent. 'Have a nice night!' he called back cheerily, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, before stepping inside his make-shift shelter.

Kate couldn't believe he had just left her outside in a downpour like that. She was only wearing a thin sleeveless white tank top and a pair of jeans. She was immediately soaked completely through.

It was not even five minutes later, but she was absolutely freezing. She was shivering madly with giant Goosebumps all over. What was worse though was the fact that the rain had turned into hailstones which were steadily increasing in size. From the size of apple pips to the size of golf balls.

'What! You can't just leave me out here in thi-uhh..' She grunted as a particularly large ice ball hit her injured arm.

He could hear Kate shouting him but he was busy unrolling his sleeping bag.

The awful weather was now coming down harder than ever. It was as if the gods of the sky were punishing her for something she had done.

Kate resorted to threatening him. 'At this rate these hailstones will finish me off before we even get to Cyclonia! Those were your orders weren't they? To deliver me to Master Cyclonis alive 'cause you've had plenty of chances to kill me yet and you haven't. And if they were your orders you're about to fail you're goddamn mission!'

This made him pay attention now, he made up his mind while sighing lightly and getting up. He knew he would get no sleep with her shouting all night.

Kate knew she was freaking out a bit, but the pain of when a piece of ice landed on one of her many sores was almost unbearable.

'Dark Ace!' Kate actually screamed. The hailstones were now leaving at least two inch wide bruises on her, some even breaking the skin. She closed her eyes and tried to hide her head from the onslaught.

Suddenly she felt herself being picked up bridal style.

'Oh Kate, I love it when you scream my name.' The dark haired man said, laughing quietly to himself. In reply she tried to punch his stomach, but just ended up hurting her hand – it was rock solid. He laughed a bit more then.

He clutched her tightly to his chest as he jogged back to the tent. Once inside he dumped her unceremoniously on the right side of the huge double sleeping bag he had unrolled on the floor of the tent. Her mouth made a little 'oh' sound as she landed.

Kate just lay there, unsure of what to do.

'I thought you were cold, get in' Dark Ace said annoyed.

'Yeah, because I can unzip a sleeping bag, get inside it and then zip it back up again while my hands are tied together behind by back.' Kate said sarcastically. She gave him an exasperated look.

'Fine' He grumbled after a moment's thought and went to retrieve his energy blade.

Kate looked at the fiery sword, fearful of what he was going to do with it. He kneeled down beside her and she swallowed audibly. The Talon Commander pushed her on to her side with a smirk, loving the way that one minute she was being sarcastic, and the next she could be frightened of him.

All he did though was cut through the rope that was binding her hands together.

Just as Kate was about to get in she realised he was staring at her. 'What?' she asked perturbed.

'You know' he began, 'you'd get a lot warmer if you took your clothes off.' He said, a smug look in his face.

'Pervert.' She snapped back. Yes, she was cold, and wet, but there was no way in hell she would take off anything with him there leering at her. Kate stared back at him defiantly.

'Go to sleep before I change my mind.' He told her eventually, as to which her muttered reply was a 'Yes Sir!'

As she got in she became a little nervous about being in the same sleeping bag as him – even though there was a huge gap between The Dark Ace and her. Kate realised her feet were still tied up, uncomfortably, but she was just too tired to care.

Probably so I don't try to escape, was her last sleepy thought before she was lost to unconsciousness again.

The Dark Ace looked down at her sleeping form. He was amazed at how quickly she could fall asleep but then thought it could be because of her injuries also. He wondered why he had untied her but told himself it was so Master Cyclonis could inflict the injuries herself (if that was what she wanted) rather than let the ropes have all the fun.

He sighed and leaned back onto the sleeping bag shutting his eyes, but kept his weapon nearby. He knew she would start putting up a fight as soon as she woke up and guessed he would need his sleep for the upcoming day.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dark Ace woke with a start. He was lying on his back he wondered what has woken him, then realised it must have been the abrupt cease of hailstones. He turned his head towards Kate and saw she was sleeping peacefully. Her face was completely relaxed, making her look young, she could only be about 14 The Dark Ace mused. After a few more minutes of looking at her he decided now would be a good time to get up. He got out of the sleeping bag quietly as not to wake Kate – he really didn't want to have another argument this early in the morning. Although it was rather fun when he had to scare her into submission.

Rummaging through his bag he picked out a new Cyclonian shirt and swapped it for the one he was wearing. Sheathing his energy blade he opened up the tent to check on the condition of his switchblade. It had fared well, except for the odd piece of ice here and there it was perfectly fine. Opening a compartment under the seat he extracted a new piece of rope and headed back to the tent.

He knelt down beside Kate's sleeping form and carefully unzipped the sleeping bag on her side. He deftly retied her wrists knowing that if her hands were left untied she would probably try to crash his skimmer. Picking her up he carried her out of the tent and placed her on the grass, wondering how anyone could sleep through this. He turned around and packed up his tent and sleeping bag and stuffed it into a compartment in his switchblade. He then proceeded to pick up Kate again and place her on his ride, then sliding in behind her so she was leaning back against his chest.

Revving his skimmer he set off into the sky away from this inconsequential Terra and towards Cyclonia – it could be no more than four hours away.

Kate shifted about and groaned, stuck in that half-asleep half-awake area of consciousness. She could hear the steady thrum of a skimmer and felt someone at her back. She guessed it was Aerrow, or maybe Finn, behind her and she was in his skimmer. After a moment she realised something was off, the sound of the skimmer – it was too deep to be a Storm Hawk skimmer. These ones usually belonged to…Talons. This realisation brought back all of her memories of the previous few days, which led her to conclude that she was in fact in The Dark Ace's arms.

Dark Ace had hoped that the young Storm Hawk would stay asleep throughout the entire ride but he guessed she was just too stubborn for that – they were only around 45 minutes into their flight.

Throughout her realisation Kate had hoped to keep her body relaxed – to not betray the fact that she was awake.

'You can't fool me, I know you're awake.' The Dark Ace said, being observant.

'No I'm not.' Came Kate's icy reply.

The Dark Ace stayed silent, instead focusing on steering his switchblade.

After about two and a half hours Kate couldn't sit still – she couldn't feel her backside because it had gone numb and she could tell her legs were beginning to feel the same. Plus she couldn't stand the silence, even though she absolutely did not want to talk to him it was making her uncomfortable.

In the end she gave in. 'Are we there yet?' She hated to be the one to break the silence, it made her feel weak.

'No.' Was his only reply.

Kate figured if she couldn't fight him then at least she could annoy him to death. 'Well, find a Terra and land because I need to stretch my legs.' She said sulkily.

'No.' was his only reply again.

Now he was starting to get on her nerves rather than the other way round. The Dark Ace was delighted by this.

'I can't feel my bum.' She didn't want to sound like she was whining but the minute those words were out she instantly regretted them.

Dark Ace smirked and leaned forward so his lips were by her ear. 'Want me to rub it better?' he asked with his hand on her hip gripping tightly. He loved to aggravate people, especially her.

'Asshole.' She said wriggling herself out of his grip. 'Land this thing!' She stated angrily pushing his arms.

'No!' He shot back.

'I'm not going to Cyclonia!' Kate shouted.

'Yes you are!' He shouted back.

'Screw you.' Kate muttered and acting on instinct she lurched forwards and grabbed control of the skimmer sending it into a spin.

The Dark Ace, cussing, had focused his attention on righting his switchblade and Kate immediately took the opportunity. I'd rather die than go to Cyclonia, she thought grimly. God knows what they'll do to me there. As the switchblade spun around to the right she went with it, throwing herself off of the side.

Falling through the air made Kate feel so weightless. If there wasn't the obvious danger of dying, she felt that she could do it all day.

It took only a second for the Cyclonian Commander to realise what she had done. Stupid child, he thought, swinging his ride to the right and taking control of the spin. Rebalanced, he angled downwards and quickly managed to catch the falling Storm Hawk well before she managed to get anywhere.

'That was a clever little stunt wasn't it?' Dark Ace cursed, snaking his arm tightly around her waist so she couldn't move at all.

'It caught you off guard didn't it?' it was a rhetorical question.

'Hardly.' He replied. 'That trick's been pulled before.'

'And what happened?' Kate questioned.

'They fell into the Waste Lands.'

Kate gulped, thinking about falling to her death.

'Why didn't I?' She said after a pause.

'You're important to Master Cyclonis.'

They left the conversation at that, which they were mutually glad about since neither had anything to talk about, plus they were abductor and abductee.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At one point Kate must have fallen asleep again – her injuries were taking their toll – because she was jolted awake by the sound of other Skimmers. This must be Cyclonia Kate realised.

Landing his Switchblade they immediately drew all the attention in the area.

'Get up.' The Dark Ace ordered.

Kate tried but practically fell over. Everything seemed to be spinning. She looked down at her arm and saw that it was all red and weeping a nasty yellow fluid. 'I can't'. Was her only comment.

'Fine.' He snapped and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder he began walking down the corridors of Cyclonia, towards Master Cyclonis' Crystal room – knowing that was where she would be.

Kate tried to fight him – she honestly did, whether he was too strong or she was too weak she couldn't tell, either way it only exhausted her and got her nowhere.

The Dark Ace smoothly arrived at his destination without even breaking a sweat – considering he was carrying a person.

As soon as he was in the room he dumped the Storm Hawk on the floor and addressed Master Cyclonis.

'Master Cyclonis, your will is done.' He said, respectfully bowing.

'Good.' She replied, never turning to face him, too focused on her crystal machine. 'Take her back to your rooms and throw her in your cell. I will give you further orders soon.' It was a clear dismissal but before he turned to leave he asked 'Why not the dungeons?'

This time she turned to look at him 'I know what goes on down there between my Cyclonians and the prisoners and I need her to be at least….coherent.' She finished, giving him a knowing look.

The Dark Ace smirked darkly and deftly grabbed Kate from the floor and threw her back over his shoulder. He left the room and walked through the corridors. Swiftly arriving at the door to his rooms he easily entered the numbered password and opened the door.

Turning to his right he undid the lock on his private cell and walked inside to put Kate down on the hard concrete floor.

'Sweet dreams little Storm Hawk.' Was the last thing Kate heard before blacking out again from the agony in her arm.


	3. Chapter 3

The Dark Ace stood on his balcony watching the rising sun. Cyclonia's atmosphere was always red due to the pollution but when the sun came up, for just a minute you could always see a slight colour change. The dark reds would contain small swirls of green and sometimes even bronze – it was one of Ace's favourite things; it was calming and allowed him to be able to think clearly without worry.

He thought about Cyclonia. He still believed he made the right decision in joining Master Cyclonis but he did wish she treated him better than just one of her common Talons. He wouldn't say anything because everything was settled now and if he disputed something he knew the other Talons could get it into their head that they have the right to do the same, but whenever he was called to her Control Room and given an order she always kept her back to him. It wasn't as if any other Talon would shield her body with their own, protecting her when a metal beam fell down from the ceiling. All of the other Talons only followed her orders because they were scared of her – even Ravess and Snipe, whereas he followed her mainly out of respect.

Failing a mission was what he hated the most. Failure meant punishment and thanks to Aerrow he'd been getting a lot of it recently. Sometimes he thought she enjoyed testing out her mad new crystals on him and other times he would think he caught a look of regret in her eye but it always disappeared quickly.

By now the sun had fully risen so he turned around and walked back inside closing the balcony doors softly behind him. Figuring a shower would do some good he headed into the bathroom and switched on the water.

He came out with a red towel around his waist and used a black one to dry his hair. Almost everything in in his room was either black or red – the standard Cyclonia colours. He could never be bothered with changing the colours, the idea of painting didn't really appeal to him even if it was somebody else that would be doing it.

Walking over to the right side of his king size bed he pulled open his wardrobe door and stepped inside. He dressed in his standard Cyclonian uniform but left his armour behind.

After dressing he looked in on the young Storm Hawk currently residing in his cell. He hadn't heard a single noise out of her the whole time since he put her in there which was a little worrying. It wouldn't do to have her die after all the fuss he had taken in capturing her and risking more failure, his reputation wasn't as strong as it used to be thanks to those troublesome children that thought of themselves as the latest heroes of Atmos.

She was lying in a heap on the floor exactly where he had put her, it didn't seem she had moved at all. A closer inspection revealed that out of her numerous cuts and bruises the top of her right arm seemed to be the worst, a nasty yellow liquid was oozing out of it and he knew that that must be the reason why she was sleeping so heavily.

Knowing the cut had to be cleaned before it was allowed to get any worse he rolled up his sleeves and went back into his bathroom to gather the necessary First Aid kit sighing heavily. Returning he unlocked the cell and stepped inside. Crouching down next to the unconscious girl he lifted her forearm and turned it slightly to be able to catch a better view. As he moved her arm she let out an almost inaudible groan.

'What are you?' She didn't finish the sentence properly because her voice was cracked from dehydration as she peered down at him. Dark Ace realised she must not have had a drink for almost a day and a half. He made a mental note to remember this.

He didn't say much as he looked at the injury except for a quiet 'Hush'.

The Cyclonian Commander poured the alcohol on her arm to sterilise it without any say he was going to do so. Kate closed her eyes and whimpered in pain. When he considered it was clean enough he bandaged up her arm, not too gently but not roughly either.

By the time Kate reopened her eyes he was already at the door. 'Wait!' She called trying to get into a better sitting position. He paused with his back to her; his hand was holding the heavy metal cell door slightly ajar. He turned around and as he looked her over Kate was struck with the fact that she didn't really know what to say. After almost 30 seconds of silence it finally came back to her in the form of a rumbling stomach. 'Can I have some food?'

Kate fidgeted under his crimson gaze and he eventually walked back out of the cell but he didn't lock the door, just closed it. He figured in her weakened state she wouldn't be able to push it open and plus he was only walking across his room to his kitchen. Having to look after a prisoner was becoming rather boring rather quickly. The Dark Ace was used to only having to look out for himself and most days he was left to his own devices here in Cyclonia, nobody really bothered him whether it was out of their fear of him or not. He knew he wasn't allowed to harm her yet otherwise Master Cyclonis would have said so but at least that would make things more interesting.

Opening the cupboard he rummaged around, he didn't want to make anything so he just pulled out a tin of soup. After pouring it into a bowl he left the empty tin on the black granite style counter and slipped back into the cell setting down the soup on the floor. This time he did lock the cell when he left and headed towards the door.

'But it's cold.' He heard Kate say, she wondered how a small tin of liquidised food was going to stop her from starving to death.

'Deal with it.' Was all he said before he had disappeared out the door.

After he left Kate looked down at the soup. It was a thick creamy off-white liquid but it actually smelled appetising – that could just be because she was very hungry since she hadn't eaten for almost two days (Kate hadn't had any breakfast the morning she was captured).

Bringing a spoonful to her lips she tasted some. She knew it wasn't likely that it would have been poisoned because she watched him pour it but she still only tried a little bit. It tasted like mushrooms. Before she knew it Kate had quickly wolfed the whole lot down. Tapping the metal spoon against the bowl she wondered what to do now. Having her wound dressed properly and after eating she was able to think much more clearly, before she had just been drifting in and out of consciousness all night but not really sleeping. Kate doubted she could actually get some rest on the cold stone floor so she stood up and went over to the barred cell door.

Looking at the door she noticed two things; the lock was one that slid across like a bolt – it was completely metal and would be heavy to move. The second was that where the bolt was attached to the wall it was padlocked down. There was no chance of forcing it open from what Kate could tell, it would either need a key or something that could be used as a lock pick.

She turned back a looked around her cell to see if there was anything that she could use as said lock pick. Her eyes fell on the spoon. Picking it up she looked at the handle, it was thick in the middle and then tapered off into a thin line ending with a flat bottom. At its thinnest it was the size of a matchstick and when it gradually got to its thickest it was similar to the size of a chunky pen.

Kate was no genius in picking locks but she guessed this would work, it had to. She was quickly up again and was about to set to work on the lock when she heard the door opening. Hastily stuffing the spoon up her sleeve she lay down and feigned sleep.

She heard the door close and footsteps coming towards her, after pausing for a minute they headed off in another direction and Kate quietly breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know why she felt as if she had to pretend to be asleep but it was her first thought when she heard to door opening. Cracking open an eye she peered out of her cell and saw that The Dark Ace was in his kitchen with his back to her. Slowly and quietly she nudged to empty bowl into a shadowed corner so if she moved (right now she was blocking the bowl from the view of the door) he wouldn't notice the spoon was missing.

She quickly found a flaw in her plan – she needed to go to the toilet. Huffing she stood up properly, getting The Dark Ace's attention.

'I see you've stopped pretending to be asleep.' He remarked closing the cupboard door.

Kate sighed, she'd thought she'd at least be able to get away with that.

'Can I use your bathroom?' She didn't want to talk to him at all, especially for having to ask him for something.

'And here I thought you would be in there making demands and screaming down the place, that's what most people in your position would do.' He said this with a slight smirk on his lips. He was now leaning against the counter and facing Kate directly with his arms folded.

'I guess you don't know the Storm Hawks that well.' Came her muttered reply. She knew he was the bad guy but that didn't mean she should stop being polite, but then again Kate had never actually found herself in a situation like this before.

He sauntered towards her cell but Kate refused to be intimidated by him, even if his crimson gaze was a bit off putting. 'No it's just you. All the rest of them would have at least tried something by now, you are harmless.'

The Dark Ace was just trying to get a reaction out of her, he knew well enough that not many things were as they appeared to be and he guessed that this Storm Hawk was one of them.

Kate had to mentally tell herself to calm down, causing an argument was not going to help her in any way.

'The bathroom then?' She tried again.

This time, to Kate's surprise, he unlocked the cell and opened the door. He pointed with his finger to a door next to the kitchen and opposite the bed. 'That one.'

When Kate walked past the door to the apartment she would have tried to get a good look at the lock if his body wasn't in the way. 'Not here.' He said, smirking now.

Once inside the room she first headed towards the toilet. Looking around she could see a large shower in the corner, a bathtub in the middle of the room and then the side where the sink was with a mirror hanging off the wall. Everything was based around the colours white, grey and black which she felt gave it a good balance. To the right of the sink and just behind the door was a grey set of cupboards from floor to ceiling.

After finishing up Kate started to quickly rifle through the drawers under the sink, taking a quick look in the mirror to comb through her hair and turning on the tap to hide any noise.

There was a knock on the door which made her freeze. 'Time's up.'

She knew she wouldn't be allowed much time in here but she didn't think it would be over so soon – this was her only chance at finding something that could aid her in her escape.

Kate decided to ignore him. She didn't know what she was looking for even as she finished searching the sink area and rushed over to the cupboard. A knife maybe? Some kind of weapon? Definitely anything that would help.

There was no knock this time, just his impatient voice, 'You better come out of there. There's no hiding.'

Staying quiet Kate sped up her frantic search, the only thing she had gotten so far were a bunch of towels and a toothbrush. She doubted she could fend off the entire Cyclonian army with a toothbrush, though Aerrow probably could, said a patronising voice in her head. Ignoring that as well as the twisting doorknob Kate stuffed her arm under the towels and made a last feel for something to grab.

The Dark Ace tried the door in vain yet again. She must have locked it he thought. There was no doubt in his mind that a door would not stop him from getting in there. I bet she's rifling through my things. He knew now that it was a good decision he had made by removing the hidden fire crystal he had had in there prior to her arrival, it was just luck – he hadn't known she was coming he had just taken it out to check its energy and had left it in his bedside drawer.

He would have forcefully opened the door if he hadn't already heard it unlocking.

Kate rushed to pull open the door, she was nervous about doing so because the door seemed like an added protection between him and her but she knew it would be an even worse situation if she hid away and didn't face him, waiting for him to barge his way in and drag her out only to throw her back in that god dammed cell. Kate knew she would be going in there either way by his forcing or her own free will so she steeled her nerves and walked back to the tiny barred room that had been her prison for the past however many days. She was even starting to lose track of time which was worrying – but she had been unconscious for most of it after all.

At the entrance to her cell Kate stopped and turned to face him.

Dark Ace had been following closely behind her on her way back to the cell. He knew she knew that she was no match for him physically. That must be why she willingly walked back he mused. This Storm Hawk must have too much pride to allow herself to get into a fight in which she knew she would be bested.

Looking down into her cerulean eyes he waited for her to say something.

'Why are you keeping me locked up in here? It not like I know how to get out of your stupid password protected door!' Kate knew she was trying in vain but she could always try.

He stepped even further in to her personal space but she refused to step back. By now he was so close to her that if she moved an inch closer they would be touching. Kate could smell his cologne which was subtle but still there, and pick out all the different flecks of red in his eyes.

'Too bad. You're my prisoner.' He told her. On impulse he leaned down and placed his lips against hers in a bold caress, bewildering Kate. Before she could even think about whether or not she was going to return the kiss it had ended with him pushing her back into the cell and locking the door.

Turning around he went back to his kitchen snickering as Kate was left standing there, dumbfounded.

What the hell was that? She thought disbelievingly. Why would he do that? What did he have to gain? Kate thought back to what Aerrow had told her a while back.

(Flashback)

They had just saved a group of the many innocents the Cyclonians had locked up in the Prison on Terra Zartacla. Thanks to Mr Moss they had only managed to save four but it was still better than none at all. Kate had offered her room to the only girl and the others went in Junko's, Finn's and Stork's rooms since they looked so tired.

After making sure they were asleep Kate headed back to the main body of the ship to see what was happening.

'How'd it go?' Aerrow asked from the inside of his room as Kate walked past. Retreating a couple of steps she leaned against the door frame just as Radarr jumped on Aerrow's bed and promptly fell asleep.

Kate smiled, 'Fine, they're asleep. I don't think they really believe they're free yet.'

Aerrow smiled too, it was the best feeling knowing that you had just saved someone's life. He was about to reply but he was cut off by an ear-piercing scream coming from Kate's room.

Simultaneously the both dashed towards the sound. Reaching Kate's room they saw a girl they had rescued sobbing in her sleep.

Kneeling down by the side of the bed Kate tried to wake the girl up, noticing the bruises on her arms and chest.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

After dropping their extra passengers off Kate found Aerrow back in his room. He was lying on his bed just staring at the ceiling. Kate cleared her throat and he sat up, only just noticing she was there.

'Hey, come in.' He beckoned, patting the bed next to him. 'What's up?'

Kate didn't really know where to start with this so she just let it out. 'Did you notice all the bruises on the girl? The guys had hardly any at all.'

Aerrow just looked sad, his mouth pulling down at the corners. Not meeting her eye.

'What happened to her? I can tell you know.' She tried again.

It was a while before he replied but when he did Kate was shocked. 'She was most probably raped.'

She was speechless. 'Why? Why would they do that?' She couldn't decide whether she was more angry or shocked.

He looked even sadder now if that were possible. He shrugged, 'That's just what they do in Cyclonian Prisons. I guess it's their idea of fun.'

Kate looked down at her feet. 'Do the others know this?'

'I don't think so.'

'So how do you?' Kate was scared of the answer she'd get.

Aerrow sighed. 'When both of your parents are dead you tend to hear the stories that they would have rather kept away from you.'

(End Flashback)

Kate didn't even realize The Dark Ace had left until she heard the door slam. Running to the barred door she looked around to see he was indeed gone. Kate realised that this was her chance. Putting her arm up her sleeve she pulled out the items she would use as lock-picks, the spoon and a hair slide. She had found the slide when she'd been rummaging around in the bathroom cupboard and had jammed her arm under all of the towels in a last ditch attempt to find anything she could use. The thought that this clip must have been left here by another girl made her stomach twinge painfully for a second. It was bad enough that she was trapped here, but the fact that there had been another girl in the same position was upsetting to say the least.

Quickly she put the end of the spoon in the lock following with the pink hair clip. It was awkward to say the least since the lock was on the other side of the door and attached partway to the wall.

She really had no idea about how to pick a lock. Kate tried turning them as if they were a key. Damn it, she thought. She'd just snapped half of the clip off.

Kate took a deep breath and tried to slow down. Yes, she was in a rush to get out of here before the Cyclonian Talon Commander returned but if she messed this up her chances of escape were anywhere between zero and never.

Kate didn't know how long she was fumbling with the stupid lock when it finally clicked open but she guessed it had been quite a long time. Dropping the spoon and the clip she pulled the lock off and slid the metal bar back that was holding the door shut. It took some strength, a few choice cuss words and a surprising amount of anger to be able to shove the door open.

Stumbling out the tiny room Kate looked back at the door. How had he made opening the door look so easy? I was even kicking it and it still wouldn't budge. Not letting herself dwell on it Kate decided the first thing she would need was a weapon so she started with looking through his wardrobe. Not finding anything helpful (unless she wanted to start throwing shoes at people) she tried the bedside table closest to her. Opening the only drawer she grabbed the only thing she could use as a weapon – a fire crystal. This was good, Piper had told her a lot about crystals and she could tell just by looking at it that it was fully charged. It was a pity she couldn't find any kind of sword or a pair of twin blades she could use it in. Kate knew it still would be effective.

The next thing she did was run into the kitchen. Kate didn't cow the next time she could get a drink and her parched mouth was practically dying of thirst.

Looking to her right she saw a knife block. Pulling out the biggest, sharpest one she could find she placed it between her belt and her jeans where it wouldn't fall out, and it wouldn't cut her as she moved.

Back in the bedroom she looked at the main doorway. Instead of a lock it had a panel with the numbers 0 to 9 on it. Kate knew she wasn't going to get out of this door. It could take days for her to find the correct set of numbers in order to get out and at the most she had probably an hour if The Dark Ace had left for the same amount of time as he did before.

Turning around Kate looked for another exit. Between the bedroom and kitchen were a set of balcony doors. Why hadn't I noticed this earlier? Looking at the lock Kate could see that it was just an ordinary one – built for a key.

Returning with the clip and spoon Kate put them in the lock. As soon as the clip entered the lock it broke, all of the knocking it had sustained inside the last one had made it weak.

Pulling out the spoon Kate realised that she couldn't use the clip anymore and hurriedly pulled out all of the tiny bits of pink metal left from it. Using the spoon on its own now Kate tried in vain to open the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Dark Ace walked down one of the many familiar corridors of Cyclonia. Most talons now were in the mess hall eating their dinner but he had been in the gym. He had always gone there when he wanted to think. He had left earlier than usual because he hadn't been able to get rid of a strange feeling.

Earlier in the day when he had been telling the Kate to come out of the bathroom, he knew she was doing something. When she had finally opened the door her cheeks were flushed and her hair had been thoroughly combed straight again – like it was when had first seen her. When they had been standing so close together he had noticed a guilty look in her eyes. He had no idea what she had to feel guilty about but it wouldn't hurt to check up on her.

By now the Talon Commander had arrived at his door and just finished entering the passcode.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kate paused for a moment; she could hear something, a light beeping. Her eyes widened when she realised it was the password being inputted and she spun around wildly, pulling out her fire crystal just as she saw the door opening.


	4. Chapter 4

Even before the door was fully opened The Dark Ace had already ducked out of the way of the oncoming blast from the fire crystal. Jumping to his feet he had to duck again to avoid being hit by another blast that narrowly missed his head, blowing out a chunk of the wall a couple of inches to his right.

Kate wanted to know what had made him return so quickly – this just wasn't fair. At the moment the only thing stopping him from being able to grab her was the quickly depleting fire crystal she held in her hand.

Kate didn't realise she had a plan until she noticed the open door. Her freedom lay between them both and to her right. She was now stood in between the kitchen and bathroom doors whereas he was closer to the dingy cell Kate had been locked up in.

Even without any weapon Kate still knew Dark Ace could easily take her if they were fighting in close quarters, so she aimed to push him further back with another blast from her crystal.

This time The Dark Ace saw the hit coming and dived under it while running at Kate.

As he knocked her down Kate felt all her breath rush out of her for a second, startling her momentarily but not for long. She tried to scrabble out from underneath him but he was too strong – easily knocking the crystal out of her hand causing it to roll off somewhere.

Kate's fighting instinct kicked in. 'Get the hell off me!' she yelled at him kneeing him in the groin. He let out a pained groan and she managed to flip them over. Straddling him she leaned down and socked him across the jaw, knocking his head to the side.

Recovering The Dark Ace caught her hand that was aimed for his face again and rolled them over, pinning her down.

'Escaping are we?' He smirked down at her, sitting on her legs and restraining her wrists.

'Fuck you!' Kate shouted, trying to wriggle free. She would have succeeded as well if Dark Ace hadn't put his full weight on her.

'Now, now,' He began, holding her still. He could tell he was going to bruise from where she had punched him. She was strong – for a girl anyway. 'Don't say words you're not old enough to use.' He said patronisingly.

'Old enough?' Kate knew he was just trying to taunt her but she was just so angry at him. Kidnapping her and keeping her locked up in a cell that wasn't even the size of her bed back on the Condor; only feeding her a bowl of cold soup; stupidly kissing her and making her think about Aerrow's stricken face when he'd told her about what had happened to that girl; and then laughing at her, as if it were funny. No wonder she was pissed at him. 'How old were you when you decided it was time to kill all of your friends and join the Cyclonian Empire?'

The Dark Ace's face became expressionless but his left hand gripped her shoulder painfully. 'Don't talk about things you don't understand.' He growled at her, leaning closer to her face.

'Understand? No I understand perfectly. Killing Lightening Strike and orphaning Aerrow at three was completely the right decision.' Kate was goading him now and he was getting angrier and angrier.

'Shut the fuck up!' He shouted down at her, moving the hand he had on her wrists to her throat. He did not have to hear this, especially from a girl nearly half his age.

This was all the distraction Kate needed. In a flash she had yanked the knife out of her belt and plunged it into The Dark Ace, in the muscle between his neck and shoulder. He let out a yelp of pain but Kate didn't wait to see whether he was going to recover or not. Pushing him off of her and towards the bed she hastily scrambled to her feet and ran for the door.

Kate was already running down the corridor when she realised that she didn't actually know how to get out of Cyclonia. Hearing some Talons walking around the corner further down the corridor, she opened the closest door and hid inside, hoping not to be discovered. She listened silently with her ear pressed to the door and eventually she heard their retreating footsteps.

Sighing Kate spun around and had a look around the room. It seemed like some kind of study with papers strewn all over the place. The room had no windows but had two doors – the one she had come through and another off to her left. In the middle of the room there was a table with more papers and a radio. Grabbing hold of it she began to tune it in to one of the frequencies they used back on the Condor.

'Hello? Can anyone hear me?' Kate spoke into the machine but the reply she got was only static. 'Hell-' She quickly stopped talking when she heard someone talking from just outside the door. Noticing the turning handle she only had the chance to put the speaker part back on the radio.

'Oi! Who're you?' the young Talon that entered quickly pulled out his weapon and began advancing on Kate. She didn't wait to chat, swiftly ducking under his clumsy hit she grabbed his staff and used it on him, effectively knocking him out.

Hearing more Talons approaching she ran to the other door. Opening it, Kate found it was a staircase. This was good, she thought while running down the steps two at a time. The hangar bay should be near the ground floor.

Kate felt like she had been running for hours because by the time she got to the bottom of the stairs her legs were almost numb. Sucking it up she opened the door and peered out. She had to close it again almost immediately because a pair of Talons walked past. Reopening the door slowly she saw that there were no Cyclonians in sight so she snuck towards a pile of crates that were a few feet in front of her.

Taking a look around Kate saw that in fact she was in the hangar bay. There were plenty of Cyclonians busying around, a lot of them either bringing Skimmers in or taking them out. In the far corner she could see a garage like area where there were a couple of Talons working on a bike.

Further down the row of brown crates she was hiding behind Kate spied the exit. Not allowing herself to be spotted, Kate snuck out through the Hangar door.

Once outside she took a second to look around. In the area where she was standing, there were thankfully no Cyclonians around – but also no Skimmers either. Damn it, she though angrily. Knowing that as long as she stood out on the open she was a potential target and likely to be spotted, Kate spun around to find some shelter but stopped dead in her tracks. At the Hangar door stood The Dark Ace, his red panning gaze searching for her.

Kate didn't wait to see if he had spotted her, instead she turned around and sprinted in the opposite direction. She could hear her own heart pumping frantically as she raced around a corner and flew into a lone Talon who was wandering past. They both stumbled to the ground in a tangle. Ow, Kate thought, desperately trying to get up. Finally on her own two feet she looked back at the Talon that was now standing too. One look was all it took for her cover to be broken. 'Intruder!' he shouted, drawing the attention of all the Cyclonians nearby – including The Dark Ace.

Looking up, she noticed him just as he rounded the corner. He stood now, not ten feet away from her. His left shoulder was smeared with blood but he showed no pain in his expression, only determination. Kate knew this was most likely her last chance to escape. She had to run. Now. 

So that's exactly what she did.

Kate didn't think of where to run, she just ran. Ducking under a pair of grasping Cyclonian hands she put on another burst of speed realising that the Dark Ace was hot on her trail. Kate could feel her heart pounding from the exertion but she ran on, she would not let herself be captured again.

After a few minutes she began to hear his quick paced footsteps slowing and Kate soon found out why. Without even realising it she had ran to the very edge of the Terra.

Kate skidded to a halt. Peering over the side she saw a few loose stones roll over the edge and disappear into the mist. It was almost a sheer drop straight down, except for a few outcroppings of rock. Looking back she saw the now smug looking Dark Ace approaching her slowly. 'Nowhere to run to now Little Storm Hawk,' he growled out. By the sound of his voice Kate could tell that not only was he in pain but he was also very pissed off. She was 100% sure that his anger was not going to help in her favour.

Kate took a step back. Her heels were now resting just over the edge of the drop. She didn't dare look down for her fear of heights. Dark Ace took another step closer. Behind him there were at least ten other advancing Talons, proving that there was indeed no escape.

Except there was.

Kate knew it was her only chance, yes it was stupid, risky and reckless but then again she was a Storm Hawk – it was her job to pull the stunts that others were too scared to do.

With that in mind she quelled her fear and looked the Dark Ace straight in the eye as she stepped backwards and off the Terra.


	5. Chapter 5

Kate was dazed. She could faintly smell sulphur through the red haze that clouded her vision. Bringing things back into focus, Kate realised that the red that was invading her vision was actually the Cylonian sky. I did it. I escaped the Dark Ace and Cyclonia. 

Sitting up carefully Kate winced at her injured arm. It was still bandaged and showed no sign of any other injury but to Kate it felt like it was on fire. I must have sprained it or something, she concluded, but still, she didn't want to look under the bandage.

Stumbling to her feet, she scanned the area, her Storm Hawk training telling her that she had to find cover and recap on her inventory. Except I have no weapons, food or water. Looking up at where she jumped from she could see no activity. No Talons, and no Dark Ace. I'm free. The thought hit her like an oncoming train and she couldn't help but slip out a small smile.

The ground she stood on, Kate soon realised, led downwards in a bumpy slope towards a dark cave which extended into the Terra. I wonder if anyone knows about this, she thought, astonished by her luck. Upon entering the cave, she found the inside to be dark and dank but there was still enough light streaming through the entrance to allow her to see quite clearly. It was spacious and eerily quiet but also very warm. The warmth must be because of the pollution caused by Cyclonia, Kate thought, sitting herself down with her back against the rocky wall.

During her brief respite, Kate thought about the Storm Hawks, and about Aerrow in particular. She had no idea if he was okay and she felt scared at the fact that something could have happened to him and she had no way of helping him. Stop thinking like that, she told herself sternly, he's a Sky Knight, he can take care of himself. 

Kate sighed and closed her eyes in an attempt to try to relax herself. She knew that panicking wasn't going to help her any, so for the moment she just focused on her breathing. In. Out. In. Out.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Hello? Kate! Is that you? Can you hear me?' Aerrow slammed the receiver back onto the radio. 'She can't hear us, the signals gone.' He regrettably told the rest of his squadron, resting his hands on the table and hanging his head.

Stork peered over Aerrow's shoulder and looked at the radio screen. 'That call was from Cyclonia!' He twitched nervously.

The Condor was still parked on Terra Tropica after only just rescuing Aerrow. The Dark Ace had pushed Aerrow off of his skimmer and had sent him tumbling down into the wastelands below. Of course Aerrow had used his wings to lessen the fall but since there was no wind that far down, he couldn't fly back to the condor. It had taken a full day to find the Sky Knight, who had managed to evade all of the lava monsters and retreat into a cave to nurse his wounds from the fall. He had taken a knock to the head and a few burns from the heat but it was nothing that wouldn't heal. When they had found him and brought him back to the condor Piper had insisted that he had to have a full nights rest and he had reluctantly agreed and staggered off to his room with radar hot on his heels.

'What's stopping us then?' Finn said excitedly, 'Kate's still alive. All we need to do is fly to Cyclonia, blast some Talons and save her!' He was eager to get something done even if it meant he wasn't thinking his plan through properly. Kate was like a sister to him and he be damned if he let anything happen to her.

'Exactly,' Stork continued 'All we have to do is fly into the heart of Cyclonia, fight the Dark Ace and probably Master Cyclonis, evade the Raptors and the Night Crawlers, get past every single Talon there is and be able to make an escape. How are we going to be able to do that?'

'Just like we always do!' Aerrow told his crew, 'We're the Storm Hawks! We are the youngest Sky Knights in the Atmos yet every time we've fought Cyclonians we have always won. That's not about to change. Let's go!'

'Guys, wait.' Piper said, turning away from the crystal converter and facing her team mates. 'Our crystal energy is depleting, a Talon must have shot at it. At this rate, we have enough power to get us as far as Cyclonia but that's it. We have to return to terra Atmosia to buy more crystals and get the Condor fixed.'

'What?' Finn deadpanned. Junko looked shocked and Aerrow's face was unreadable as he stared into the distance. 'But terra Atmosia is even further away than Cyclonia is!'

'I'm sorry but it's our only choice.' Piper finished meekly.

The Condor was silent until Aerrow spoke up. 'You heard her Stork, set course for Atmosia, and fast.' He wandered over to the windows as the ship began to move and looked at Radarr as he jumped onto his shoulder and chirruped sadly. 'I know bud, we'll get her back.'

Radarr couldn't tell which one of them he was trying to convince more.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of a Skimmer stirred Kate from her uneasy sleep and she blinked her eyes open owlishly. She hadn't even realised that she had been asleep. Her arm gave a painful twinge but she decided to ignore it, instead focusing on the noise coming from just outside the cave.

Stumbling to her feet she silently crept to the caves entrance, only pausing when she accidentally kicked a pebble over the jagged edge of the cliff. She could hear the obvious sound of a Switchblade and that drew her to one conclusion, The Dark Ace. She cautiously peered over the edge of an outcropping of rock and she watched as his crimson eyes quickly scanned the area below, searching for any signs of her.

Unknowingly, another piece of rock came loose underfoot and she didn't have a chance to catch it before it rolled over the edge of the outcropping. Kate watched with trepidation as the rock fell directly towards the Talon Commander below. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as the stone clunked against the Switchblade's left wing and bounced straight into the Dark Ace's lap.

Oh shit.

She caught his searing gaze for a second then began to scramble back, unsteadily gain some footing and race into the cave. Kate looked back when she was a few metres inside to see the Switchblade rise up to the caves' level, but she didn't wait around to watch him jump out and take up the chase – she could already hear his quick paced footsteps.

Damn, damn, damn. Keep running. Kate ran through the cave with no idea of where she was going. It was pitch black this far in, but she wouldn't slow down. She couldn't. She was sprinting as fast as she could yet she could still hear the footsteps behind her. Wait, wasn't that noise coming from in front of her? Kate frowned into the darkness and suddenly lurched against the cave wall as the ground shook beneath her. What the hell-

She still had her eyes open yet it wasn't helping her any because of the absolute blackness of the cave. I should have planned where I was going, or at least found out what else was in here with me. 

Kate could hear the Dark Ace picking himself up but they both froze when they heard a slight shuffling coming from in front of them. Apart from both of their panting silence reigned for a few seconds until a high pitched noise permeated the air. It sounded like two swords being clashed together, but only half as loud. The strange noise started up a fear wrenching rhythm of eight beats, similar in a way to when a person drums their fingers in boredom.

What the hell is that?

The sound was becoming louder, which meant that whoever was making it was coming closer. Or whatever was making it.

Kate gulped and backed up a step towards The Dark Ace. She would rather take her chances with the ex-Sky Knight than with whatever was scuttling closer, through the darkness.

'Ace?' Kate whispered almost silently as he was only a few feet away. The scuttling paused at the sound of her voice, as if it were listening. The Dark Ace didn't reply, no-one called him Ace anymore, but he had heard her. He was preoccupied with whatever the hell was in front of them. Even he didn't know what it was, and he'd been in Cyclonia for years. 'Will you give us some light?' He could tell by the sound of her voice that she was scared to death but she hadn't run screaming bloody murder yet. She had some strength in her he thought absentmindedly.

The eight beat drumming slowly began again and this time it was coming from a few feet to Dark Ace's right. Not good. Unsheathing his blade he lit it up via its energy crystal and what he saw almost made him wish he hadn't.

Two sets of six pairs of eyes glinted dangerously at them, bathed in red, one to their right and the other in front. Kate's own eyes quickly adjusted to the light, as did the Dark Ace's. Kate took another two steps back, so her shoulder was barely touching the Talon's.

Each creature had eight legs, which when they moved, created the eight beat knife sound as they touched cave's dank floor. Along each creatures body two further sets of legs jutted out into the air attached to scorpion-like pincers. Their bodies were built much in the same way as a spider's apart from the fact that they were taller than either of them and at least as long as a Skimmer's wing. They were a metal-grey in colour, but they had neither fur nor scales.

Time to go, Kate thought as the on to their right took a spindly step forward, with the rest of its legs moving in its wake, much like a centipede's. Definitely. Back on the Condor it was known to everybody that she had a fear of spiders, and it was all she could do not start shrieking and fall to a heap on the ground. She was already shaking.

Kate spared a glance at the Dark Ace and as their eyes met they simultaneously decided on a plan. Run!

They were running shoulder to shoulder through the narrow cavern, the Dark Ace's fiery blade still alight. The spider-like creatures were making the noise again, only a lot faster this time, and they both knew that the monsters had given chase.

Kate stumbled for a second and would have lost her balance if it weren't for the Dark Ace's hand catching her arm and urging her along.

Running again, with the Dark Ace's hand still grasping her arm, Kate looked ahead and was glad to see Cyclonia's red sky shining back at her. Thank god, just a few more steps.

They emerged from the cave and both ran for the Switchblade parked just ahead, the creatures busting out part of the cave wall in their haste to catch them and do god knows what. The Dark Ace jumped on to his Skimmer and Kate did the same, sitting on the seat behind him. She would definitely take her chances with the Cyclonans than attempting to escape a different way and get herself trapped and eaten alive by the spiders (which were even more hideous in the light).

The Switchblade's engine roared to life and they made a hasty escape, with Kate clutching onto the Dark Ace's back, still scared out of her wits.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time they landed (in a different skimmer bay to the one she escaped from) Kate's fingers were cramped from holding onto Dark Ace's shirt. She kept her eyes closed and instead focused on her breathing in an effort to calm down. Kate didn't even flinch when she felt the Dark Ace's hands unwrapping her fingers from his shirt and picking her up bridal style, carrying her back to his room.

It was when she heard the beeping of his password to his door being inputted that rational thought began to seep back into her mind. Yet she couldn't for the life of her find the energy to try and pull herself from his grasp. She felt tired and worn out, and all she could think about was sleeping – even if it meant sleeping on the floor.

'Not the cell,' she mumbled into his chest, only half aware. 'Don't put me in there again. Please.' It was her pleading tone that caught him off guard. It was filled with no fear or malice, just longing and tiredness. If she were awake fully he knew that she would never have allowed herself to beg him, yet here she was, in his arms and clutching to him as if her life depended on it,

The Dark Ace supposed that if you had had a mini breakdown then you would be acting like a scared lamb, so with easy steps he lay the Storm Hawk down on his bed. He looked at her face to see her expression but she was already asleep.

He left her to it.


	6. Chapter 6

The Dark Ace was only mildly surprised that Kate hadn’t woken up yet. She must really need the sleep he thought while putting on his armour. Cyclonis was bound to call him for a mission today as he was never allowed to sit idly in Cyclonia, even though he had a prisoner to watch. 

Last night, once he had placed Kate in his bed he had moved into the kitchen for some food before eventually falling asleep sat on a hard chair next to the table. He didn’t know why he had let the kid into his bed in the first place and he blamed the fact that he hadn’t taken his bed back because he was too tired to attempt to. Running away from giant spiders was tiring work, especially once the adrenalin had worn off. 

Nevertheless he had woken up early after a rather uncomfortable sleep and he had promised himself that next time she would be on the floor. He could hardly look threatening in a fight when he had the imprint of the table on his cheek.

Soon enough there was a knock to his door and a young Talon was stuttering out that the Master had asked for his presence. The Talon darted off as fast as humanly possible once he had given his message and the Dark Ace gave a last look to the sleeping Storm Hawk in his bed before he put on his head piece and walked out the door. 

He saw no one as he walked to the where Cyclonis would be. He would have thought it strange except for the fact he knew a large squad of Talons had been sent out to collect crystals from a nondescript terra in the middle of nowhere. Arriving at the Crystal Room where Master Cyclonis was he knocked once on the large door before stepping inside and respectfully bowing.

'Dark Ace, how is my prisoner?' her tone was light but Ace could tell she wasn’t pleased. 'I heard she escaped.' When she turned to face him her eyes were narrowed into slits.

'It was nothing I couldn’t handle master.' he replied, his voice never wavering.

'Let’s keep it that way. Make her talk; she has information about the Sky Knights we could use.’ She turned back to her crystal machine.

'Yes Master'

After a few seconds had passed she began 'The crystal harvesting is not going well, many of my Talons have been attacked by the beasts that roam the Terra. Fly there and make sure the animals don’t kill again. Oh, and Dark Ace?' she paused on the crystal converter.

'Yes Master?'

‘The dungeons are open for you to use the Torture Chamber, I want her information,’ Her voice was like ice as she once again began to tap at her machine .The Talon bowed then turned and headed for the Skimmer bay.

 

It was early afternoon when Kate finally woke up. The sky was a bright scarlet and the room was cast in its red shadowy haze. Blinking the sleep from her eyes she blearily sat up and looked around. The room was empty and deathly silent except from her light breaths. The Dark Ace was gone.

Running a hand through her hair she cringed at the tangles she encountered. Giving up she slid off of the bed and wandered into the bathroom. She knew she should really be trying to find a way of escaping again but right now she felt so icky and grimy she practically flew in to the shower when she saw it. 

Undressing and stepping in Kate turned on the water and was pleased to find that it was pleasantly hot. She fumbled blindly for the soap and proceeded to happily scrub off the dirt she had accumulated on her skin. She thought nothing of it as she used Dark Ace’s shampoo and eventually emerged from the shower what felt like days later.

After drying herself she looked in the mirror at the mess that was her hair, sighing she pulled out a drawer and rifled through it until she found a comb, using it to detangle her brown locks.

She was about to redress herself in her Storm Hawk clothing when she realised what state they were in, they were covered in dirt from the cave and there was blood on the sleeve of her shirt. Without giving herself a chance to talk herself out of it she walked into the bedroom and opened up the large oak wardrobe.   
She had nothing else to wear and she figured that because the Talon seriously owed her for kidnapping her, she grabbed the first thing she saw; a black button down shirt. Putting it on she realised it only came down to her mid-thigh, and she was tempted to put on a pair of his trousers as well but one look at them and she realised that there was no way they were going to fit her. Eventually and begrudgingly she settled on a pair of his grey boxers. Awkward and uncomfortable could not even begin to explain how she felt wearing the Dark Ace’s clothes, but then again anything was better than wearing all that grime.

She looked down at her dirty clothes in disdain as she returned to the bathroom. Filling up the large sink with hot water she put her clothes in to soak and wandered idly how the Dark Ace got his washing done because as she entered the kitchen she didn’t see any kind of washing machine. Immediately upon her entrance to the kitchen the fridge was what drew her eye, the thought of a food and the possibility of a good meal was overwhelming.

Kate’s stomach rumbled loudly as she opened the fridge, and she was glad to see that there was plenty to eat. A lot of the food inside was healthy and on the door she spotted some sort of amber juice she didn’t recognise so she steered clear of that. At the back of the fridge she noticed a bowl which was covered over and pulling it out she lifted the lid to discover what was inside. Small fruits the size of plums which were a deep blue in colour were what greeted the Storm Hawk. Kate recognised them as she had eaten some on Terra Gale before although she couldn’t remember what they were called. 

Keeping her prize in her hands she softly shut the door and settled herself down on the ground next the fridge with her back leaning against the cupboards. She was so engrossed in eating her meal she failed to hear the quiet beeps of the doors keypad as the password was inputted. Although, she did notice when the door suddenly opened and the Dark Ace walked through. More like stumbled through, Kate thought as she watched him grip onto the door frame for support. As he did so Kate timidly stepped into the bedroom. He only seemed to realise she was there once she entered the bedroom, so he closed the door behind himself and looked up at her.

Kate’s eyes widened at the state of him as he slowly walked past her and to the side of the bed where he proceeded to slowly remove his head piece followed by his armour. She noticed he had a line of blood trickling down his face from his hair line, and by the way he would wince as he removed the armour she could tell that he was at least little bruised and definitely in pain. 

It was the sound of his voice that snapped her out of her reverie. 'Are you going to stare all day?' he asked as he turned his back to her and went into the kitchen. 

'What happened to you?' Kate answered his question with a question, blushing a little at the fact that she had been caught staring. Stop it; she told herself sternly, you’ve nothing to be embarrassed about. 

'I didn’t know you cared,' he murmured sarcastically, leaning against the kitchen counter and tilting his head a little as he looked over the girl now wearing his clothes.

'I don’t,' Kate replied indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest as his red eyes raked over her body suggestively. 'And stop looking at me like that!' 

The Dark Ace chuckled and raised an eyebrow as he caught sight of the bowl of fruit that rested on the counter beside him. The Storm Hawk had obviously helped herself to since it was now half empty. 'Hungry were you?'

'Obviously, since you never gave me anything to eat.' Kate huffed.

'You had a bowl of soup.' He smoothly replied, walking to the fridge and taking out the strange orange bottle that Kate had noticed earlier. 

'That was cold and gloopy.' The Dark Ace began snickering once he finished his drink, throwing the empty bottle in the bin. Her face was scrunched into a cute frown and her mouth was in a pout when he faced her again, her arms still crossed over her chest. Cute? That bang on the head must have done more damage than I thought, he thought inwardly. 

He ate a few of the fruit himself and placed the bowl in the sink before returning to the bedroom and pulling off his shirt. Kate blushed madly and turned around as she saw his hands wander down to his belt. 'Do you have to?' she questioned weakly she couldn’t get the image of his muscly abs out of her mind. She put her hand over her eyes as she heard his trousers drop to the floor. Don’t look, don’t look, she repeated it like a mantra in her head. 

'This is my room.' he stated, slinking over to stand as close as possible behind her without actually touching her, he was only a hairsbreadth away. 'Why so shy?' he whispered huskily in her left ear as one of his hands lightly trailed down her side. Kate jumped forwards and away from the now grinning Cyclonian. 

The Dark Ace retreated backwards with a smirk on his face and Kate finally turned around just as he was getting in to his bed. 'Where do I sleep?' she asked him, as she watched as he buried himself under the sheets.

His only reply was; 'Not my problem,' before he was silent. Kate sighed, this is going to be a long night she thought as she settled herself on the floor at the foot of the bed.


	7. Chapter 7

When Kate woke up the Dark Ace was already gone. I really need to start being more aware, she thought. How did he manage to open and close the door without my noticing? It’s only three feet away and he had been limping last night!

She knew that if she had been able to have free roam of the Cyclonian’s rooms a few days ago, she would be doing anything to escape. Kate also knew she wouldn’t be allowing herself the luxury of stepping into Dark Ace’s shower again in her haste to make an escape, but she still did. Maybe I’m getting Stockholm syndrome. It was the best excuse she could muster.

The truth was, Kate actually felt somewhat comfortable in these rooms. She hated the fact that she was in Cyclonia and she hated herself because she admitted it. The Dark Ace was plaguing her mind and she couldn’t stop thinking about how close he had stood behind her last night. For some absurd reason she felt safe around him, or at least as safe as she could feel around the man that had betrayed the entire Atmos and sided with Cyclonia.

She scrubbed herself clean as if she could wash away all the conflicting feelings she was having. If Aerrow could see her now he would be shaking his head. Those loving, mossy green eyes would look disappointed and be slightly downcast at the corners. 

\------------

The Condor was in need of some serious work. The crystal converter had been completely shattered by the time they had arrived at Terra Atmosia. Finn, Junko and Stork had begun working as soon as they had landed five hours ago, yet from the looks of it, it seemed like they had gotten nowhere.

Aerrow still couldn’t believe he had let the Cyclonian beat him like that; maybe he was tougher than he had previously thought. The Sky Knight mused this over as he meandered through the quiet Atmosian streets. Hardly anyone was out at this hour, most people safely tucked in their beds. Anyone he did meet quickly scurrying on their way, paying him no attention, which he was thankful for.

Eventually Aerrow came across the crystal store, which he quickly found was closed for the night. The Sky Knight sighed, how did it take so long to restock on crystals anyway? Atmosia always had plenty of engine crystals to buy, yet the Storm Hawks, in all their haste, were stuck waiting for the Crystal Merchant to open his store. 

Aerrow slumped against the outside of the shop’s wall and Radarr chirruped sadly, looking up at the Storm Hawk’s depressed face. Who knew what was happening to Kate in Cyclonia?

\----------

This time Kate was waiting for the Dark Ace to return. When he had come back last night he had been in an awful state and she hated to think of how he would be now. She was sure that he probably wouldn’t accept her concern, but she wasn’t going to give him a choice. Why was she worried about him anyway? 

She halted her jumbled thoughts as the Cyclonian in question staggered through the door. This time was worse than the last and underneath the dented armour Kate could see that his shirt was ripped and torn with blood staining his torso and legs. Darting forward she took a hold of his arm and steered him to the bed so he was sitting down on the edge of it. He didn’t try to protest because he couldn’t see the point. He was too exhausted anyway.

‘Why are you helping me?’ he groaned once he had sat down. He watched as the Storm Hawk retreated into the kitchen, then a few seconds later returned with a medical kit.

‘Why shouldn’t I? You’re obviously in pain.’ Kate looked over his tired form; the armour was the first thing that had to go. 

‘It’s just a scratch on my leg, I’ll be fine,’ He attempted to get up but Kate blocked his way and pushed him back down by her grip on his shoulders.

‘It won’t be fine when it gets infected. Lie down.’ He could see she had a point and begrudgingly he removed his armour. Scooting back on the bed he did as instructed and lay back, breathing a quiet sigh of relief as some of the strain was taken off of his wounds.

Kate kneeled on top of the bed next to him. Gently, she leaned down and removed his head-piece, setting it on the bedside table. His red eyes tracked her careful movements, but she avoided his gaze. ‘What the hell were you fighting?’ she exclaimed as she pushed up his shirt to see two already bandaged wounds.

The Dark Ace didn’t answer. Why did she care so much? He couldn’t understand. He was her kidnapper; he had been holding her prisoner for at least a week. Master Cyclonis had instructed him to torture her, and then once Cyclonis is through with her he would have to kill her. He had never felt any emotion when he had done this to any other sky knights, so why was he feeling like she was different, an exception? This was the life he had chosen, the winning side. So why was he having doubts?

‘Ace.’ His crimson gaze snapped back to her, the use of his name startling him for a moment. No one called him that anymore. He realised she was waiting for an answer.

‘There was a pack of wild Dingoneks that were killing any Talons that tried to collect crystals from one of the small woodland terras that surround the east border of the Atmos. I was sent there to put them down so Master Cyclonis could get her crystals.’ It was the truth, although he didn’t quite know why he was telling her.

‘Wait, that’s where you’ve been for the past two days? Those beasts are huge! Even the babies are the size of a full-grown man!’ Kate was surprised he had even made it back; those forest-dwelling monsters were fearsome.

Dark Ace looked at her for a moment before speaking. ‘How do you know about them? They live on an uninhabited terra.’ Most that go there don’t make it back.

She stared at him, realising her slip-up. Eventually she said, ‘If you let me tend to your wounds I’ll tell you.’ It seemed fair to her, and Dark Ace’s wounds were her main priority at the moment.

‘Alright.’ He conceded, laying back so she could tend to him. She had noticed that it seemed to be his thigh that was paining him the most, as a lot of blood had stained his trousers. Swallowing her unease and embarrassment, she kneeled over him and set to work on his belt. He can’t do this himself, she thought, he’ll reopen his wounds on his stomach – get on with it.

The Dark Ace may have raised an eyebrow but she took no notice while she undid the button on his pants. Gently, as to not cause any more pain to his wound, she pulled his trousers down to his knees, far enough to reveal the nasty gash which was just below his boxers. Ouch.

Kate pulled a cloth out of the medical kit, dabbing alcohol on it to disinfect the wound. The alcohol soaked rag she cleaned the gash with must have hut like hell, but he gave no indication to it. He must be used to pain, that was a sad thought.

She found the wound easy to clean and it was quickly re-dressed, the Dark Ace grunting in pain only a few times. ‘There, all done,’ she spoke, packing up the kit. ‘You can pull your trousers up now.’ She added a few seconds later, standing up.

‘If you insist,’ he smirked at her, leaning on his elbows. As he slowly got off the bed and redressed, Kate looked away, blushing.

‘Erm, don’t move that area too much.’ She waved her hand at his crotch, still not meeting his eyes, her face aflame. This situation was entirely too embarrassing.

The Dark Ace laughed, tilting his head back as he let out his throaty chuckle. ‘What do you think I go around doing?’ He asked once had stopped, and then chuckling a little more when Kate’s face stayed crimson. 

The Dark Ace turned back to the bed, pulling off his shirt before hopping in. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was completely worn out from the day’s activities. 

Kate watched silently as he got in; there was no way she was sleeping on the floor again. With that in mind she crossed to the other side of the bed and crawled under the covers, pointedly not looking at him. 

When Kate eventually did look up, she saw that he hadn’t moved from his position on his back, although he was watching her. He hadn’t said a word as she’d laid down as far away from him as she could, right on the corner of the bed. 

As she drifted off to sleep, after a whispered ‘Goodnight’, he rolled onto his side, facing her. He didn’t have a clue about what was going to happen with Master Cyclonis when she realised he had disobeyed her orders, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. As he closed his eyes and drifted off into his own much needed sleep, he almost didn’t notice when his fingers entwined with hers.


End file.
